Is Australia still Called 'the Lucky Country'?

Australia is a very culturally diverse country, meaning that it consists of many cultures and ethnicities from around the world. This diversity is mostly due to immigration,

The Poem My Country, by Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar, depicts the diverse land of Australia and why she loves it so much. This poem makes me feel proud to be Australian because I am lucky enough to live in such a vast and beautiful country, as the poem describes. The constant flow of this poem is created by the rhyme scheme where the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme and so do lives six and eight. For

Australia is filled with many different aspects in which makes it the country it is today. I believe it is important to study texts that explore aspects of Australia by studying texts such as ‘The Club’, by David Williamson, a play written in 1977 about an Australian football club and movies such as “The Castle”, directed by Rob Stitch in 1997, about the daily life of an Australian family when their happiness is threatened when developers attempt to buy their house to expand the neighboring airport. Both these texts show us what Australian life was like in the past. By us looking at themes such as language, tradition and the mateship shown we are able to explore different aspects of Australia that make it what it is today.

In this particular poem we understand through the persona’s tone, that they do not like Australia or the people and are therefore making a judgement of, and being of a negative opinion towards, the nation. The text begins with “You big ugly.” This is instantly causing proud Australians to take offence towards the poem, we know it is about Australia because of the title. The poem continues with lines such as “you bore me. Freckle silly children… you nothing much… you’re ugly… you copy…you big awful…” all against Australia.

Australia... land of the sun, beaches and kangaroo’s, known for being a free and multicultural country accepting you, no matter whom you are... or so we thought. Kevin Gilbert’s insightful poem ‘The New True Anthem’ tries to uncover the faults hidden under Australia’s picturesque surface. It depicts an Aboriginals’ view of Australia, comparing images of Australia to the harsh reality that the author feels is happening in this country. The destruction of the environment and the poor treatment of Aboriginal people are common themes that can be seen throughout the poem which contrast ideas about Australia such as natural beauty and freedom.

Australia “The Lucky Country”; a stepping stone to a better life. The words of social critic Donald Horne stated in 1964 have been used to describe Australia’s wonderful culture, history and lifestyle. For many 20th century migrants this is what they only knew about the country creating an outburst of migrants arriving into Australia with the desire to seek a better life, escape poverty, war or persecution. They brought along with them a mix bag of emotions; fear and worry, happiness and joy alongside the expectations of the typical Australian life hoping to find acceptance, belonging, freedom and a promising future. However, due to the impact of many polices and historical events that have taken place in the past, the migrant experience has

The land has a lot to do with Australia, the way that its identity may have developed might be through its isolation and our slow understanding and respect for it. Landscape pieces by other artists at this time depict the land in a much different light than Nolan. Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ has a woman dressed in dull clothing, standing alone, highlighting her isolation in the Australian outback. Whereas Preston’s abstract landscape ‘Flying Over The Shoalhaven River’ depicts the land to be an inviting and welcoming place.

A little pondering suggests that the poem has a keen focus on the Australian environment. The poet is successful to grab our attention with descriptive explanation in the line in the

Australia’s identity has always been a complicated one. Starting with Aboriginal genocide, 1800’s cowboys and villains, two world wars and a bunch of poems describing them, it makes it difficult to conclude on what being an ‘Aussie’ really is. Thankfully, the two thought-provoking poems Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore by Komninos Zervos, and My Country by Dorothea Mackellar both use their discerning selection of themes to reflect modern attitudes in some extent. Along with their themes, Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore and My Country both use their story to capture the attributes modern Australians possess to some degree.

She was motivated to write this poetic critique by her experiences and observations of power relationships between ‘mainstream’ Australians and refugees. I found that the poem seemed to imply that Australia is trying to whitewash their society to make everyone adhere to what seems to be the Australian ‘norm’ by taking away their culture and

Reports from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003a, 2003b, as cited in Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7) show 25% of the Australian population is currently made up of migrants from around 200 countries. This fact demonstrates Australia, on the whole, has a tolerant and inclusive society. A society can be identified as a collection of people who live together in a relatively ordered community (Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7). It could be said, Australia has one of the most inclusive societies on the planet; however, this was not always the case.

Whether it be marching in an ANZAC day parade, seeing the green and gold boxing kangaroo flag at a sporting event or singing the national anthem, Australians are known for showing ‘true Aussie pride.’ In The Castle, Darryl’s pride is evident when his daughter becomes the first member of the family to receive diploma of Hairdressing. As Darryl stares at Tracey’s graduating certificate, Dale talks about how proud his dad is of his little girl. He states in his narration, “Dad reckons the day Tracey told him she was accepted into Sunshine Tafe for Hairdressing was about the proudest day of his life.” Rupert McCall’s poem Green and Gold Malaria is also another great example of the moments when Australians have shown true Aussie Pride. In his poem he talks about how he felt pride in his country when, “Banjo takes me down the Snowy River,” “It flattened me when Bertrand raised the boxing kangaroo” and “And when Perkins smashed the record, well, the rashes were true blue.” (McCall, R) McCall has shown in his poem the strong spirit of Australian’s and the proud moments in our history where Australians have shown true Aussie

The term, ‘Lucky Country’ was coined by historian, Donald Horne in 1964 to ironically describe Australia during that period (Enright & Petty, 2013, p. 14). The term was ironic as the country benefitted heavily from their inherited colonial past and was being “run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas” (Horne, 1964; Conley, 2009, p. 94 Enright & Petty, 2013, p. 14). Donnison (2014) discovered that the phrase painted a “picture of a deeply conservative and unambitious country that had got to where it was by luck rather than merit, riding on the coattails of its historical ties to Brittan.” This essay critically demonstrates how Australia was considered to be ‘lucky’ due to their resilience through the

A key component of Australian culture today is not only their diversity, but more importantly, the

While the “smallest of the world’s continents,” Australia is a vast country, the sixth largest in the world, covering over 7.5 million square kilometers. While generally one of the flattest and driest regions, despite being surrounded